


A Very Special Occasion

by AMidnightDreary



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, And he sells suits, Feels, Flirting, Fluff, Getting Together, I Don't Even Know, Loki is a tailor in this, M/M, Mutual Pining, Possibly also designs suits?, Post-Iron Man 1, Sweet Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21526252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary
Summary: "You're pining again," Amora told him, after she'd caught him staring at the same rail with waistcoats for about fifteen minutes."I have never pined in my whole life," Loki informed her,  which was a lie.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 66
Kudos: 443





	A Very Special Occasion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rabentochter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/gifts).



> Hi, Sesil! I know you kind of had a not so fun evening, so! Have this ball of fluff. Look at these idiots pining after each other. Also, suits.

_"Good afternoon, Mr. Borson. Here is JARVIS."_

Loki was so surprised that he nearly dropped his phone. He needed a few seconds to gather his wits, and even then he still sounded a little dumb as he echoed, " _JARVIS?"_

 _"Yes,"_ the AI confirmed, his voice oddly warm for a computer program. _"Hello."_

"Hello," Loki replied, breathless. He cleared his throat. "I didn't expect - it’s been _ages._ How - how are you? _"_

It was ridiculous, of course, asking JARVIS that. That was what everybody else would think, at least, but Loki knew JARVIS long enough to know better. He had talked to JARVIS when the AI had been in a bad mood once, and it hadn't been a very pleasant experience.

_"I'm very well, thank you. And you?"_

Loki couldn't help but smile. JARVIS had always enjoyed small talk, and usually Loki would indulge him and just chat for a while, but it really had been ages. "I'm fine. You would like an appointment, I assume?"

_"Yes, please. Mr. Stark needs a new suit for a very special occasion."_

"I see," Loki said, changing the receiver to his left hand to flip through his calendar. He tried to swallow down his sudden nervousness. "And when will that special occasion take place?"

_"On the twenty-fifth."_

Loki blinked. That was next Saturday. He would need to hurry with the adjustments. "Oh. Well, alright. How about tomorrow, then?" _Does he still prefer the evenings?_ “In the evening?”

_"That would be perfect."_

They made out a time, and shortly after Loki hang up the phone. He stared at it for a while longer, then forced himself to go back to work. His next customer would be there soon, and Loki wouldn't be distracted.

-

Loki was very distracted. 

He spent the entire rest of the day thinking about the phone call, and the entire next day he was too nervous to think about anything else than his upcoming reencounter with _Tony Stark_ of all people.

He hadn't seen the man in months. Almost a year, actually, now that he thought about it. _Eleven months and eighteen days,_ the part of his brain that had been taking track of all those days supplied, glancing nervously at the long list of tally marks it had drawn somewhere on a wall in Loki's mind. _Ten months and twelve days since he disappeared._

Loki had heard about it from a customer. A not anymore middle-aged gentleman who had a penchant for suits that did nothing for his figure, telling him about the newest scandals. Loki had listened to him complaining about things as he'd taken the man's measurements, and had almost driven a needle through skin and flesh when he'd heard it. _… got himself blown up in Afghanistan, not that that's a surprise. He'd had it coming, hadn't he?_

Loki had absently agreed, because his mind had been too bloody blank to say anything else.

_Six months and twenty-one days since he came back._

He had heard it on the radio. Seen it on the telly. Tony Stark, sitting on the ground in front of a bunch of journalists and eating a hamburger, as if nothing whatsoever had happened. His arm in a sling. Tired eyes. He'd been wearing one of Loki's suits.

_Three hours and thirty-six minutes until you see him again._

His brain started to be very annoying.

"You're pining again," Amora told him, after she'd caught him staring at the same rail with waistcoats for about fifteen minutes.

"I have never pined in my whole life," Loki informed her, which was a lie. He finally chose two of the waistcoats. 

"You're such a liar," Amora said. "Also, these are hideous."

“They aren’t. You just have no taste." 

“And another lie.”

“I _will_ fire you.”

“ _Liar._ ” She considered him for a moment, then added, “Go and take a break, I’ll finish this one.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Loki scoffed, threw another waistcoat over his arm and made his way back to his customer.

_Three hours and thirty-three minutes._

-

Tony Stark was usually late. In the beginning, it had annoyed Loki, but after tailoring the man’s suit for years, well. He’d gotten used to it, and he didn’t expect Tony to be on time this evening, either. Needless to say, Loki was more than just a little surprised when the doorbell rang ten minutes too early.

Amora had left an hour ago, so Loki went to open the door. Fussed over his tie a little on the way because he couldn’t help it, even though he knew that Tony wouldn’t even care. 

It was dark outside, and also rather cold. Tony was waiting on the doorstep, his hands stuffed into his pockets, and turned to Loki with a smile. 

“Hi,” he said, with that crooked smile and those impossibly brown eyes of his and _god,_ eleven months and eighteen days had apparently not been enough time for Loki to get over this.

But he wasn’t an _amateur_ \- and definitely not lovesick, Amora, thank you very much -, so he pulled himself together. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re at the wrong place.”

Tony blinked. “What?”

“Mh-hm. I expect Tony Stark in,” Loki glanced at his watch, “well, half an hour at the earliest. He’s never on time, so you can’t possibly be him.”

“Oh.” The confusion faded from Tony’s eyes, and he started grinning again. “Right. Uh. You want me to come back in half an hour?”

“I think letting you wait outside in the cold for so long would be bad for the business,” Loki said, taking a step to the side. "You may come in."

"How kind," Tony said with a snort.

They exchanged smirks, and when Tony walked past Loki into the shop, Loki had a few seconds to take a deep breath and keep from freaking out. Or get unnecessarily sentimental. 

When he closed the door, Tony was already standing in the middle of the main room, looking around. He looked… different, a little. He seemed to have lost weight, for one thing, but that was probably to be expected when you'd been held hostage for three months. He looked tired, too, and there was something about his eyes - the way they scanned the room, it was a little too attentive. Wary, almost. 

It faded when he looked back at Loki. His smirk had turned into a faint smile. "You renovated."

"I did," Loki confirmed, glancing at the walls. They had been white the last time Tony had been here, now they were a forest green that Loki had only chosen because Thor had called it a terrible colour. It went well with the dark flooring, Loki thought now. 

"I like it," Tony said. "Looks elegant. Especially with the," he gestured at the room, "golden stuff."

"Don't hurt yourself," Loki told him dryly.

"I mean it! It's nice." Tony took off his coat, handing it to Loki when he offered. "Thanks."

Loki went to hang up the jacket, smiling to himself. "Something to drink?"

"Uh, no."

Loki glanced at him, but didn't say anything. He'd been ready to make coffee. "Well, then. Shall we begin?"

Tony's smile widened. "You always make it sound like it's something dramatic."

"Finding the right suit can be very dramatic," Loki replied. "Especially when you are involved."

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?'

"Oh, you know exactly what it means." Loki threw a pointed look at Tony's clothes - a cat t-shirt beneath a jacket that had cost more than other people's salary. 

Tony followed Loki's gaze, then raised his brows at him. "Don't act like you don't like my style. You _love_ it."

 _Yes, but that has hardly something to do with your style itself,_ Loki thought, but didn't say. Of course he didn't say that. Loki is a professional, and confessing the crush he had been nursing for years would have been the exact opposite of professional.

What he said was, "I'm afraid I can't reply to that without being rude."

Tony laughed. "You know I don't mind when you're rude to me, Lokes."

"Still," Loki said. "One has to keep up appearances."

"Yes, right." Tony looked away, turning to one of the many racks with clothes in the room. "Have you, er. Chosen something yet?"

"No," Loki said, coming to stand next to the other man. "JARVIS only said that it was for a 'special occasion'. There's a lot of room for interpretation; I didn't want to choose something unfitting."

"Oh," Tony said. He still wasn't looking at Loki, which was, now that Loki thought about it, very odd. The Tony he remembered had always looked him straight in the eye.

But, well. Loki had already known that Tony had changed.

"Opera," Tony said after a moment. Almost blurted it out, really. "I'm going to the opera."

Loki blinked. "The opera."

Finally, Tony met Loki's eyes again. That crooked grin was back, just as distracting as it had always been. "Yup. Opening night, even."

Loki raised a brow, but didn't comment. Maybe he would ask later. For now, he had work to do. "That sounds lovely. Do you have something special in mind? Regarding your clothes, I mean."

"Nah. Why don't you just… you know, choose something, yeah?"

Loki started to grin. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure," Tony said with a chuckle. "Go wild."

"Oh," Loki said, already making his way to another hanging rail, "I definitely will."

-

Tony ended up trying on several suits. He just accepted whatever Loki gave him and let the tailor prod and tug at the fabric until he was either content or sure that they should try something else. 

In time, Loki forgot about his initial nervousness, and from there on it was _easy._ This was familiar ground he was moving on. He'd been outfitting Tony for years, after all, and before his business trip Tony had been in Loki's shop every few months or even weeks. Loki imagined that Tony already had an entire flat filled to the brim with suits somewhere, but of course he wasn't complaining. Tony was one of his best customers, and also by far his favourite. That didn't have anything to do with the fortune Tony regularly spent for his suits, or with how amazing he looked in a nice Tom Ford, even though he looked _definitely_ amazing in - whatever he wore, really. Even in his ridiculous t-shirts. But that wasn't it, no. Loki just liked Tony's smiles. The look in his eyes when they bickered once again, and his quick and clever comebacks. He was a bit of an asshole, cocky and arrogant every so often, but he was _fun._

And, fine - he also had a very nice butt.

Loki took care not to look too closely at that, though. Even though he wanted to. But he had long made peace with the fact that he didn't have a chance in this regard - Tony was a playboy, yes, but he was first and foremost a _straight_ playboy. Also, Loki wouldn't be interested in being merely a fling. Not with someone who could smile at him like that, at least. 

God, Loki had missed him terribly.

-

"This one's good," Tony said, considering himself in the mirror. "Isn't it?"

"Yes." Loki nodded, walking around Tony to look at him from the front. He had to swallow a little thickly. "Very."

Tony grinned at him. He was wearing one of Loki's suits, a dark grey one that hugged his frame just _perfectly_ \- or it would, as soon as Loki did some minor adjustments. Fine, the pattern of the dress shirt was a little ridiculous, maybe too colourful for the opera, but it was a good match to Tony's bright grins. A nice tie was all that was missing, and then Loki would probably combust. 

"I'll take it," Tony said, looking back to the mirror. 

"Wonderful." Loki stepped closer, tugging the suit jacket into place. He glanced down at Tony's legs, smiling when he saw that the trousers were a bit too long. That hadn't changed, then. "I can get it done by Friday."

"Yeah, alright."

Tony sounded a little breathless, which caused Loki to frown and look up again. He found Tony all but staring at him, a look on his face that Loki couldn't possibly interpret. He cleared his throat and took a step back.

"I'll need to take your measurements," he said. 

Tony nodded and went back into the fitting room to change. Loki watched him, sighing inwardly. It hadn't been a lie - Tony really had lost some weight -, but it wasn't strictly necessary, either. But Loki liked taking Tony's measurements, because it needed him to get close, and getting close was… good. _Also possibly a case of sexual harassment,_ the reasonably thinking part of his brain informed him, _so watch it._ Loki mentally glared at it. He would keep his hands to himself, of course; that wasn't even a question. But a little bit of looking didn't hurt anyone, did it?

Still, when he was crouching next to Tony to measure his legs - and _that_ was very unnecessary; Loki doubted that Tony's legs had gotten longer or shorter in the last year -, Loki found that he had to keep himself from looking too much. A distraction was in order.

"I didn't think you were one to enjoy a night at the opera," he said, which was harmless enough, right? Right.

"I don't," Tony said, then shrugged. "I mean, I've been to the opera, obviously, but it's not exactly my favourite place to be, no."

Loki smiled. "Then why are you going?"

"Oh, it's a date."

Loki's hand stilled. He reconsidered: this topic was not harmless _at all._ "Ah," he got out. "I see."

"Mhh."

"And she - she likes it, I assume?"

Tony snorted. " _He_ likes it, yeah. A lot. I think?"

 _He,_ it echoed in Loki's mind. _He, he, he, he, he._

He had no idea how to deal with that knowledge.

"You think?" He echoed in the end. His voice sounded quiet in his ears. Maybe a little bit higher than usual, which, _why._ Just why.

"He talks about it sometimes," Tony said. "Or he did, anyway."

Loki stared at the measuring tape. Somehow, he had forgotten what to do with numbers. "I'm sure he will enjoy it," he said distantly.

"I hope so. It's - sort of a surprise."

He sounded nervous. God, he sounded nervous, which meant that he was looking forward to his _date_ , which meant that his _date_ was important to him. Of course _he_ was; Tony was actually buying a new suit for _him._ To look good for _him._

Jealousy was even worse than lovesickness, but equally out of place. Loki closed his eyes for a brief moment, then took another look at his measuring tape and stood up. 

"With you in this suit, he probably won't even notice anything of what is happening on stage," Loki told Tony, keeping his voice warm. "I wouldn't worry."

"Okay, I'm just going to trust you here," Tony said. He still looked nervous as he held out his arm for Loki. "You know, I'm. Shooting into the dark a bit, with this."

Loki hummed. "Have you known each other for long?"

"Years." Tony swallowed visibly, looking back into the mirror. "I mean, I don't think he's _not_ interested. But I needed kind of long to get my shit together, so… I don't know, I just hope he's… willing to try, I guess."

"He'd be a fool otherwise," Loki said. His chest felt too tight. "You sound like you like him."

"I do," Tony said, without even the slightest hint of hesitation. "He's - perfect. I think. For me."

 _He likes talking about him,_ Loki thought. He knew Tony well enough to see that. "Do tell me more."

"Well," Tony started, thinking. "He's British. That's always good, right?"

Loki chuckled. "I wholeheartedly agree."

"Of course you do. And he's - he has his own business. Built it up from scratch, so he - He's clever, and he knows what he wants. He can be pretty ruthless, I think, but… he's kind, too. And funny. He makes me laugh, and I… I like it when _he_ laughs, you know. It's the best fucking thing in the world."

Loki smiled. He couldn't help it. His jealousy had faded; this was just too adorable to be jealous. "He's very lucky," he said, a little too softly and not quite meeting Tony's eyes.

Tony was blushing. It was creeping up from his neck, almost all the way up to his ears. Adorable indeed. "He's also gorgeous," he added.

"Is he now."

"Yup. Taller than me -"

"That's hardly a feat."

"Shut up. Taller than me, and black hair. Cheekbones I'd - and I'm not kidding - die for, and… green eyes. I love his eyes."

Wait.

Tony shuffled his feet a little. "He likes wearing black suits?"

_Wait._

Loki looked up to meet Tony's eyes in the mirror. Tony caught his gaze, smiling. Still nervous. 

"Do I need to make it more obvious?"

Loki nearly dropped the measuring tape. He was talking about him. Tony was talking about him, about _Loki._

Loki stared at Tony for a little longer. Tony stared back at him, and after a while turned around to look at Loki directly instead of through the mirror.

"You can say no," he said, quickly. "I won't - I mean, we can just forget I ever asked, and it's not a big deal. I'll just take the suit and -"

Loki kissed him.

It wasn't anything spectacular, really. Just Loki's lips on Tony's, for a few seconds. The slight scratch of Tony's beard under Loki's palm. A gasp of surprise. Then Loki already pulled back again, his eyes wide, brain only slowly catching up with what he had done, and then - well, Tony drew him back in. His fingers tightly wrapped around Loki's tie, pulling him down again, lips opening for Loki _perfectly._ Another gasp; Loki's, this time. Tony's other hand on Loki's waist, and Loki's hands cupping Tony's jaw, and yes, at further thought, this _was_ spectacular. 

They stopped, after a while. They were both out of breath, but Tony still managed to grin up at Loki.

"Well," he said, his voice deliciously rough, "there's that."

Loki swallowed, his thumb brushing along Tony's jaw. "You haven't actually asked me yet."

"Oh. Right." Tony cleared his throat dramatically, making Loki smile and kiss him again. 

Loki couldn't not kiss him again.

After a few moments, Tony stopped again to say, "I was about to ask -"

"Yes, I'm free on Saturday."

"Yes. Good. Okay." Tony let out a breathless chuckle. "Okay."

Loki hummed and kissed him again. Later, he would tell Tony how worried he had been, and how much he had missed him. He would tell him how glad he was that Tony was back, that he was _alive_ and well, and that he'd been half in love with him for years.

For now, though, Loki said, "You need a tie."

Tony chuckled, tilting his chin to kiss Loki's jaw. "I've got dozens of ties at home."

"Let me give you another one."

"Do you have one with sharks?"

"No."

"I need one with sharks."

" _No,_ Tony."

See, this was why Loki needed to choose the tie. He really couldn't let Tony show up to their first date with a tie that showed _sharks_ of all things.


End file.
